Comitan NWG reduces robberies

In a month they had up to 14 robberies, and now, in 2 weeks, none have been registered

La Paz, Baja California Sur (BCS). During the Ordinary session of the Permanent Delegation of the State Congress, Labor Party (PT) deputy, Camilo Torres Mejía, reported on the success of the El Comitán community in the municipality of La Paz, where The neighbors of the place - among them foreigners - joined to create a surveillance enclosure called "Safe Committee", with which they managed to reduce to zero the theft rate, all in just 15 days.

"This program was implemented on February 21, with the active participation of all the residents of the area of ​​the Comitán, where the mechanics was to establish a surveillance siege at the strategic points of entry to that community. Given the geographical advantage of this division, it has been easy to patrol and monitor all its areas of conflict, "said the legislator.

The strategy - explained the deputy of the PT - was to establish a surveillance network with vehicles and from their own homes, where information has been shared throughout the area; In addition, managed to coordinate with the authorities so that they can respond to calls in approximately 5 minutes.

"Residents, in their private vehicles, and most of their spouses on the roofs of their homes, have managed to form an information network with which they achieve a very efficient coverage of the area, and all this in coordination with the Police of El Centenario, who, in turn, carry out patrols and, if necessary, react in less than 5 minutes to reach the point requested for some revision or support. "

The message of the same neighbors was that thanks to this initiative and tired of the robberies they were living, the result was to reduce the index, from 1 or more incidents per day, to zero. In a month they had up to 14 robberies, and now, in 2 weeks, none have been registered.

"The fact of being able to establish this cordon of neighborhood surveillance has greatly inhibited the ill-intentioned people to enter the fractionation, since they know that they are being constantly monitored ... What if it has worked? Of course. If it had a few streaks of one or more daily robberies, it has been reduced to zero, so far as the show goes.

"In 2016, the foreign community totaled 43 incidents of robbery and 10 of those were in El Comitán. In January 2017, there were 14 incidents and 6 of them in El Comitán; In February, there were 13, and of these, 6 were in El Comitán. The last incident was on February 20, with gunshots at 2:00 p.m. On 21 they started surveillance, and since the program began, El Comitán has not had robberies, "read Torres Mejía.

Finally, residents of the area, including foreigners, urged the authorities to extend this program to the nearby community, which is El Centenario.

"We request that this program be extended to the entire El Centenario community. We know that the problem is different, because there are many points of entry and exit, but if we expand our network of neighbors, that will be able to meet that need.

"We need the commitment of the authority to achieve rapprochement with the community through voices, marches and information programs where the neighbors are asked to participate in a positive and constructive way."